Brown: Schools, cops could take $5.4 billion cut without new taxes

California faces a smaller budget deficit in the coming fiscal year but will require nearly $5 billion in cuts to public education if voters reject Brown's plan to raise taxes in the fall.PHOTO/RICH PEDRONCELLI, AP

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SACRAMENTO Gov. Jerry Brown said Thursday he will need to cut $5.4 billion from schools, universities and public safety if voters don't approve a tax increase in November.

The announcement came as Brown released the first draft of his 2012-13 budget proposal. Brown had originally intended to release the plan next week, but his administration accidentally posted it online Thursday morning. The snafu forced Brown to roll out the centerpiece of his 2012 agenda in a hastily called press conference at the State Capitol.

"This is an honest budget that got started a little sooner than I anticipated," Brown quipped.

Brown's plan assumes voters will approve a ballot measure he is sponsoring to temporarily increase the personal income tax on wealthy taxpayers and temporarily increase the state sales tax by half a percent. That plan would raise an estimated $6.9 billion in revenue. The governor's budget proposal raises General Fund spending by roughly $6 billion, from $86 billion to $92 billion.

The governor, however, said the tax increase is necessary to balance a budget with a $9.2 billion deficit. Even with the tax increase, Brown's plan includes $4.2 billion in spending cuts. Brown proposes cutting nearly $1 billion from the state's CalWORKs program as well as $842 million from Medi-Cal and $163 million from In-Home Supportive Services. He also wants to cut education funding under Proposition 98 by $544.4 million, child care spending by $446.9 million and the Cal Grant program by $301.7 million.

"This is not nice stuff," the governor said. "But that's what it takes to balance the budget. And that's assuming we get our tax revenues."

However, if voters reject the tax increases in November, Brown's budget calls for another $5.4 billion in cuts. Under these cuts, which only would be triggered if the ballot measure fails, schools would lose $4.8 billion while the University of California and California State University systems would each lose $200 million.

Also getting cut would be the state court system ($125 million) and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection ($15 million), among others. Under the trigger cuts, the number of park rangers and Fish and Game wardens would be reduced and the state would stop staffing its beaches with lifeguards.

"This, based on my experience, is the best I can put together," the governor said. "The Legislature will take a look at it. And if they find a better way to do it, well then they'll make those adjustments in the budget. But I defy anybody in this room to make any major changes that will be any more politically palatable than the ones I've made.

"I'm not saying this is perfect. I'm just saying that this is the best that our finance department and myself can come up with."

To maximize savings to the state, Brown wants to implement some of the initial cuts by March 1. Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said in no uncertain terms that Senate Democrats will not agree to cut spending until more revenue projections come in later in the year.

"We are Democrats. We share common values," Steinberg said. "But we are not doing those cuts early in the year. Can I be any more clear?"

Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, D-Los Angeles, praised the governor's plan, saying in a prepared statement that it "underscores the need for new revenues to avoid cuts that will be a major drag" on the state's economic recovery. But he stopped well short of endorsing anything else, saying simply that he looks "forward to working with the Governor and my colleagues to produce an on-time budget that reflects California's values by our June 15th deadline."

Legislative Republicans, meanwhile, reiterated their opposition to a tax increase, although they lack the votes to stop the budget from passing if Democrats support it. Thanks to a ballot measure approved by voters in November 2010, the budget is now passed by a simple majority vote of the Legislature and Democrats occupy slightly less than two thirds of the seats.

"The governor's plan is a good first step but relies far too much on a $7 billion tax hike that voters are likely to reject," said Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar in a prepared statement. Huff, whose district includes a piece of Orange County, predicted that an "anticipated growth in revenues will help us to bring spending in line with revenues without a $7 billion increase in taxes."

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California faces a smaller budget deficit in the coming fiscal year but will require nearly $5 billion in cuts to public education if voters reject Brown's plan to raise taxes in the fall. PHOTO/RICH PEDRONCELLI, AP
Gov. Jerry Brown responds Thursday to a question while discussing the cuts he has already made to help reduce the state's budget deficit from nearly $20 billion last year to a gap of about $9.2 billion as he unveiled his proposed $92.5 billion 2012-13 state budget at a Capitol news conference in Sacramento. RICH PEDRONCELLI, AP
Gov. Jerry Brown discusses the cuts he has already made to help reduce the state's budget deficit from nearly $20 billion last year to a gap of about $9.2 billion. RICH PEDRONCELLI, AP
Gov. Jerry Brown discusses the cuts he has already made to help reduce the state's budget deficit from nearly $20 billion last year to a gap of about $9.2 billion. RICH PEDRONCELLI, AP

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